GRAND HAVEN, MI -- A former NBA player told police he panicked after an I-96 crash in which police say he left the scene after his Jaguar hit a 70-year-old pedestrian.

Duane Eddy Washington, 44, is accused of striking Estella Vitins as she walked along eastbound I-96 in Crockery Township about 2 a.m. Tuesday.

Police used a Silent Observer tip to locate his gray Jaguar at an apartment complex in Gaines Township, near 60th Street and Kalamazoo Avenue, later Tuesday.

In court affidavit, an Ottawa County sheriff's detective said Washington admitted in a police interview to "panicking and leaving the scene" after briefly stopping.

Detective Steve McCarthy said Washington, who played pro basketball for brief periods in the late 1980s and early 1990s, told detectives that it was dark and raining and he was going about 70 mph on the freeway when he "saw a woman in the headlights."

"He attempted to swerve," McCarthy testified. "He states he did not know he hit her. The scene investigation indicates otherwise."

Police said Washington pulled over on the side of the road after the accident and another driver pulled up next to him.

"He asked Mr. Washington, did you see the body in the road. Mr. Washington told the witness twice, I swerved, I tried to swerve," McCarthy testified.

Estella Marie Vitins

The other driver then pulled his vehicle in front of the Jaguar, but Washington then pulled out and left in the Jaguar, the witness told police.

Washington, who told a judge today that he is self-employed and teaches teens how to play basketball for a living, declined comment after bonding ouf of the Ottawa County Jail on a $3,500 bond.

He was required to post 10 percent of the bond.

Washington, who lives in the Caledonia area, has lived in West Michigan for 16 years.